Trading & Settlement Process

UNDERSTANDING THE TRADING AND SETTLEMENT PROCESS AND OTHER DOCUMENTORY REQUIREMENTS AT BROKERS’ OFFICE TO OPEN THE TRADING ACCOUNT

Understanding Trading and Settlement of EquitiesStock market is a trading platform which provides an opportunity to buyers and sellers of securities to do transactions. As of now there are 23 recognised stock exchanges in India and 24th is likely to get functional soon. However the majority of transactions in securities happen only on the National Stock Exchange. The Bombay stock Exchange is the second largest contributor in the overall pie of total transactions. However it's contribution is restricted to 5 to 7 percent only. There are three types of instruments that are traded on National Stock Exchange namely equities, derivatives and debt instruments. This article attempts to explain the procedure involved in trading and settlement of equities. Before understanding the procedure of trading and settlement, it is important to have an overview of changes that have taken place in Indian securities market in last ten years. Three most noticeable changes which have taken place are 1) Dematerialisation , 2) Introduction of screen based trading and 3) Shortening of trading and settlement cycles. The Depositories Act was passed by the parliament in 1995 and this paved the way for conversion of physical securities into electronic. With establishment of National Stock Exchange, there was a significant change in the level of technology used for the operation of stock market. It led to introduction of Screen Based Trading thereby removing the earlier system of open outcry where prices of securities were quoted by symbols. Now all the transactions happen on computer which is spread across country and connected to National Stock Exchange through VSAT. These two factors combined together helped in reducing the trading and...